Leonard stars as Raptors claw back with win over Bucks

LOS ANGELES: Kawhi Leonard scored eight of his 36 points in the second overtime period to lead Toronto Raptors to a gritty 118-112 victory over Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Eastern Conference final.

The Raptors, who dropped the first two games of the best-of-seven series in Milwaukee, clawed their way back to 2-1 in front of home fans and will try to level the set when they host Game 4 today.

Pascal Siakam scored 25 points and Spanish centre Marc Gasol added 16 for the Raptors, who got off to a quick start and led much of the night but had to battle to put the Bucks away.

“We just played a lot tougher,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.

“We were up guarding, we were physical. We were ready to play tonight.”

Milwaukee’s Most Valuable Player finalist Giannis Antetokounmpo struggled to just 12 points on five-of-16 shooting.

Antetokounmpo’s 23 rebounds helped the Bucks stay in touch, but he didn’t reach double figures in points until the middle of the fourth quarter and he produced eight of the Bucks’ 20 turnovers.

Antetokounmpo fouled out in the first minute of the second overtime period.

Moments later the Bucks managed to edge ahead 105-103 – taking the lead for the first time since Antetokounmpo scored the game’s opening basket – but Leonard and the Raptors roared back.

Leonard’s steal and dunk put Toronto ahead 112-109 and his driving bank shot gave Toronto a 114-110 lead with 32.4 seconds remaining.

Leonard played a key role in limiting Antetokounmpo and Nurse said his defensive play was “probably the biggest key of the game”.